Episode 057: Be the Student

Practice is essential to developing as a bassist. Here are some tips on how to use your time wisely to improve faster.
In the spirit of being honest with how I manage time, I quickly came to these questions:

How often do I actually practice daily/weekly?

What is practicing to me? Is it practicing songs I need to learn or working specifically to continue to learn about my instrument and music in general?

What skills has my “practicing” resulted in over the past 12 months?

What does practice look like for you today and in the past?

Paul

So half the time I tend to spend on learning songs — because this is where my next pay is coming from. No one cares if I can play all my modes, they want me to cover the songs on the list properly.

The other half is “my time” — a lot of the time I’ll spend it with a study online, like a progression that’s new and interesting, or working on a specific skill. Something I can leave a half-hour or hour long session knowing something new.

I’ve had periods where I get into rhythmic exercises, modal exercises, scales, etc.

When you hear interviews with some of the cutting edge bassist/musicians today, the one theme I continue to hear is that for those that went to music schools, they point to the opportunity of unlimited practice for 4 years straight. And post education, most continue some regimen, although not at that volume. — Not all of us have had that opportunity.